The Magical Bee and Vagabond Wolf
by Linsneakers
Summary: Follow your favourite genius mage and old man as they're cornered with everday trials, misery, bets, and more! :Will most likely contain spoilers: :Chapters don't follow each other:
1. Check, please!

The Magical Bee and Vagabond Wolf

_Check, please!_

---

Rita glared, fists shaking tremendously at her side, a blush tinting her cheeks. Why'd they have to give her an oufit like..._this_?!

"Oh, Rita, you look so cute! Doesn't she look cute, Yuri?" the pink-haired princess probed, turning the ex-knight around to look at the mage.

"Yeah...Those cat ears sure make the outfit..."

"Oh, Yuri! Can you ever give out a compliment?"

"Huh? You're saying that wasn't one?"

"I give up; you're hopeless."

Folding her arms, the mage tapped her foot, feeling the tail attached to the skirt sway lightly as she did. This only made the girl's blush turn darker. It just _had_ to have cat ears and a tail, didn't it? She didn't understand why she couldn't just do this waitering thing in her normal outfit, after all, what difference would it make?! It was just clothes! And these...these... Ooh, she loved them! But there was no way in hell she was going to be admitting it! And worst of all, she had to be taking orders with the old man! No doubt he'd be poking fun at her the whole damn time, and there'd be nothing she could do about it since she had to promise everyone she'd be on her best behaviour.

"Rita! Rita, come on! It's gonna open soon, and you don't want customers to be waiting for you, do you?" dragging Rita to the front doors, Estelle promptly made sure the young mage had everything set, going so far as making sure the younger girl's headband was straight. Clapping, the princess giggled,"Ooh, I know you'll do great! Good luck to you, too, Raven!" bowing to the older man beside her, the princess quickly skipped off, joining the rest of the group who'd already seated themselves at a table, ready to observe how this would go down.

"Hey, ya don't look too bad, Rita! Ya gonna be _purrfect _tonight fer all yer guests?" tugging on the cat ears that were clipped into the girl's hair, Raven smiled brightly, quickly dodging the hand that swatted at him. Ignoring the stupid cat pun, the mage quickly examined the outfit they gave for the old man. It was so...yellow. It felt like staring at it would burn her eyes out. He looked like a giant lemon, for heaven's sake! But...he looked...sorta _cute_ with it on... Wait, what?! What was she thinking?! No, no! He was just the stupid, ugly, perverted old man! Nothing more! He was not "cute"!

Huffing, she glared at the door, trying to calm herself down. She couldn't look mad when the customers came in, or she'd automatically lose the...bet, she guessed it was. Holding her hands neatly infront of her, the mage took deep breaths. She'd never done this waitering thing before, hell, she'd never even done anything remotely close to it! And by the way Raven bragged, he obviously had experience. She doubted that this would really be fair, but she would show that old man who could help more people! ...Wait, that wasn't what they were trying to do.

They were seeing who could keep track of the most orders and not mess anything up.

...This was going to be easier than she thought!

"Get ready, you two! I wanna see smiling faces and lots of tips, okie?" the manager giggled, bounding up between the two, hands twitching on the open sign which she would flip in a couple of seconds. Rita nodded and glanced at Raven through the corner of her eye, who noticed this and his grin wided, giving her a thumbs up before tilting it upside down. Rita quickly looked away and pouted, a small blush cornering her cheeks again. He was _so _dead!!

Once the manager flipped the sign and ran away so fast it was like she was never there, Rita was dumbfounded at how many people stormed inside, seating themselves. But she thought...they'd have to be..seated by her and Raven...? Blinking, she turned to look at the older man who was lightly tossing his notebook in the air, waiting patiently for someone on his half of the bar/restaurant to call for him. Taking her own notbook from the little pouch in her skirt, Rita readied herself as well, waiting for someone to call out to her. She soon found herself shaking, nervous as all hell. What if she screwed up? These were...people, not blastia! She wasn't all that great with people, and she'd never had to take orders before... Shaking her head, the mage steadied herself. There was nothing to be afraid of!

"Excuse me, Miss? I'd like to order." getting her pen ready, Rita waltzed on over to the man who called her, a shy grin plastered on her face. Not too long after she was called, did Raven get called. It was going to be close.

Before Rita could open her mouth to ask what the man wanted, he went ahead and started listing his order,"I want seventeen poligwigle dumplings...no, wait, forget that... I want nine grilled fish, seventeen cream soups, twenty-three amango teas and ice creams, thirteen rappig steaks...wait, forget that too... I'd also like two mabo curry, and twenty Set Lunch A's. That's it~" the young mage had barely been able to keep up, her writing practically nothing but scribbles. How was this man going to eat all of that?! He was sitting by himself! Did he have like 100 stomach's or something?!

Smiling awkwardly, Rita bowed,"C-coming right up, sir..." heading up to the counter to get the food, she told the chef what was needed, and the young mage distantly wondered how she'd be able to carry all that. Maybe she'd have to make multiple trips back and forth. The restaurant wasn't that big, but it would still be annoying! Turning to see how the old man was doing, Rita was shocked when he was taking the order of a young girl, no older than 6, already ordering more than the man she just waitered.

...Did she just hear the kid right? _Fifty_ rappig steaks?! _FIFTY_?! What the hell was wrong with the world today? The girl's mother wasn't even paying attention to what her daughter was ordering! She just had her face buried in the stupid menu!

"Here's the food~!" turning when one of the chefs bounded out of the kitched and handed her a box, Rita could only blink, staring at it curiously.

"Uuhh... He didn't order a box..."

"Oh, you're so silly! Now scoot, scoot, your customers are getting angry waiting~!" slowly walking back to the table, the mage realized that Raven was still taking that little girl's order, yet the man still carried a patient smile. How much food could that kid eat?! Placing the box on the table of her waiting patron, the man frowned, which scared the young mage. He hadn't been expecting a box, of course not! He'd been expecting his stash of food, but no, he got some cardboard! Was he going to go beserk and try cutting her head off? Ah, she hated this city...!

"Took you long enough!" the man boomed, opening the box which erupted with a light smoke that clouded the table. Once it cleared, Rita's jaw practically snapped clean off her head. The man's food...was all on the table! B-but how?!

"Kitty, can you take my order please?"

"Hey, server! I'm starvin' here!"

"Hey, Cutie, mind taking my order?"

"Hello, Miss? I'd like to order."

Rita gulped, practically everyone was shouting out to her at the same time. She slowly turned to look at the old man, who _still_ was writing down the young girl's order. Sighing, she plastered a small smile on her face and started heading to a little boy who was waving his arms frantically, dying to get her attention. The young mage remained dumbfounded at the boy's order as well. He also ordered more than that grown man did! After getting everything down for the child, she headed back to counter, again telling the chef what she needed. If everyone was going to order like this, she didn't know if she'd be able to handle multiple orders at a time! Her brain would probably fry! Damnit, this was way, way, _way_ more complicated than any blastia formula!

"Ya hangin' in there okay, kiddo?" the young mage jumped when Raven appeared beside her, smiling like a fool,"These people never seem ta know when ta stop orderin'. They can eat everythin' they order, but it's still crazy."

Rita could only stare dully at Raven, before stating bluntly,"...These people scare me." the man in turn let out a whole-hearted laugh, patting the young mage on the head, who scowled. After getting the...food for their customers, the two went off their seperate ways, handing the food to their customers. More orders and more orders filled their notebooks, and for Rita it seemed to be taking hours upon hours on end for just one person to finish their order. They couldn't make up their minds! Damnit, weren't they supposed to know what they were going to order before calling her over?!

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Rita only had one person left to get their food for. Raven, on the other hand, had five, but that was Yuri, Judith, Karol and Estelle, and they both knew those guys wouldn't go super insane with their orders. Sighing as she headed over to the last table, Rita silently wished that Raven had gotten this dude instead. She didn't know if she could manage writing down another thousand words. She also wasn't sure if she'd be able to hear the man clearly enough, since the place had gotten loud and rowdy as the adults seemed to be getting drunk off Amango Tea... Or maybe Amango Tea was just a code-word for booze... But kids ordered it... Agh! Whatever! This was going to be over with in a second...rather, a couple of minutes!

"Excuse me, sir? Are you ready to order?" the mage questioned, almost sighing with relief as the man nodded. Getting her pen and notepad ready, Rita thought her cheeks were going to fall off. She'd never had to smile so often in her life!

The man glanced at his menu, straightening his glasses,"I'd like..." a chill suddenly slithered down the girl's spine as the customer darkly glanced up at her. Something told her things were going to get bad in a couple of seconds...,"I'd like you...!" Rita barely had any time to react as the man suddenly got up and wretched her arm behind her back, clasping his other hand over her mouth. The girl struggled and tried kicking at his shins, but he had armor gracing his legs, so it wasn't effective. Glancing around nervously, nobody seemed to notice her ordeal, all drunk (except for the kids) and dancing around like lunatics.

As the man started dragging her away, the mage whimpered, continuing to try to free herself. She couldn't; the man overpowered her so easily.

"You're so cute when you squirm, Kitty~ I wish I could make you purr though..." wait, was this all because of her stupid waitress outfit?! Agh! Damn people and their cat ear fetishes!

"Let her go." Rita never thought she'd be so happy to see Raven in her life. But how he managed to notice her while everyone was dancing around baffled her, yet she wasn't going to ask anything.

"No." her assaulter hissed, gripping tighter onto Rita's arm, causing her to wince.

Raven stepped forward, eyes narrowed and looking as if he were ready to kill. That look itself was scaring the young mage more than the man who probably would have...done some not memorable things to her if Raven hadn't interrupted.

"S-stay away!!" the man quickly let Rita's mouth free, but grabbed a knife from his pocket and let it stray a little close to her neck. Why was this happening? It was just supposed to be a little competition to prove the old man that she could take orders without screwing up! The party seemed to stop when the man took out a knife, and everyone stared, some warily heading for the door.

"Rita!!" the mage heard the princess yell, but she couldn't see her anywhere. All the girl could notice was Raven, that haunting look seeming even more dangerous once the knife was pulled.

"I said,'Let her go.', or can ya not listen?" the rest of the group crowded behind the old man, and the building was filled with whispers and a chilled atmosphere. Rita barely heard it when the little boy she served earlier asked his parents if 'the kitty' was going to get hurt. Closing her eyes, the mage tried to calm her nerves. Surely, she wouldn't get hurt, her friends wouldn't allow it!

"You wouldn't be doing anythin' remotely like this if the Don were still around, now would ya? Well, I may not be that old man, but if ya don't let the girl go right now, I'm gonna give ya hell ta pay." Rita slowly felt the blade vanish from around her neck, and she was quickly shoved forward, landing in someone's arms. She guessed it was none other than Raven who was holding her up right now, but she didn't care. Her legs were shaking and tears were cornering her eyes. Burying her face in the man's chest, Raven lightly held onto the girl, keeping her on her feet.

"I say ya won the bet, kiddo."

Glancing up at the older man, Rita smirked, her tears disappearing,"I told you I'd kick your ass! Now let go of me before I kill you!"

---

Sneakers: HAI. K, so since Raven and Rita are my two favourite characters in Vesperia, I thought,"Why not just make a whole buncha oneshots about them and make it like..a huge thingy of stories?" SO I AM.  
YAY.  
They may or may not say anything about other oneshots I have in here, iunno lol. These things may range from like...sad...to silly...to..uh...something like this lol.  
So uh yah. I BLAME YURI FOR THE ENDING TO THIS ONE. Cuz of his totally obvious cat ear fetish.  
It's totally totally obvious and you know it.  
K, so, anyway... HOW CAN THOSE PEOPLE EAT SO MUCH FOOD HOLY SHIT THEY'RE LIKE...MUTATED COWS OR SOMETHING. XD  
And lol excuse my lame way of thinking how they got all that food to the table at once, that was all I could think of. XD

I also wish they made them wear the waiter/waitress outfits AS you were doing the minigame, and if you didn't finish it, you didn't get the outfit. That woulda been better lolo, cuz it woulda been like,"OH, YOU DIDN'T FINISH THIS ANNOYING MINIGAME, SPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE RITA AND RAVEN. HAHA, YOU FAIL, NO COSTUME FOR YOU."


	2. Overlimit is Overkill

The Magical Bee and Vagabond Wolf

_Overlimit is Overkill_

---

It hadn't been a good couple of weeks for Raven. First of all, Judith was cooking nothing but sweets for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and he was barely able to fathom the sugary treats. And having it for three straight meals (and many more times for snacks too, since the Krityan said she wanted to master them all before cooking anything else again) was just absolute torture! He thought his stomach was going to dissolve from all the sweetness... Second, the same Krityan wasn't letting the group ride Ba'ul for awhile, claiming the Entelexeia was tired and needed rest. He was fine with that for the first couple of days...but it'd already been two weeks! His old bones were tired of walking! Not to mention it took _forever_ to get somewhere on foot, _and_ it took forever sailing, too!

"Hurry up, old man! I'll gladly fireball you all the way to Nordopolica if I have to!" the young mage up ahead hollered, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. The others had stopped walking now too, allowing for Raven to catch up. Estelle commented that maybe they should walk slower, seeing as how they weren't in any kind of rush, but Yuri said that the old man'd be fine. Karol and Judy agreed with the vigilante, as did Rita, much to both the princess' and Raven's dismay.

The group had just entered the Weasand of Cados again to fight that giant monster they'd seen when they first ventured through the area. Of course, the monster had been too strong for them at the time so they had to leave it till later. Judith had been disappointed when they'd left it alone, and said if it wasn't there when they came back to beat it later, she'd personally have to hurt the one who said they should back away. So, Yuri Lowell was thankful nobody had decided to kill it. Now they were heading back to Nordopolica, telling Tokunaga they may stay there for a day or two. Both Yuri and Judith had wanted to test out the 200 man-melee, which had been rumoured of being released.

After beating that mysterious hologram in that labyrinth place, did the rumours start flying. There, they had gotten an envelope, which inside was an...invitation of some sort. They'd received three others just like it, respectively from Flynn, the Hunting Blades and Gauche and Droite. None of them really knew what they were for, but Estelle made sure they kept the pieces of paper, just in case. After defeating the "boss" in the labyrinth, and when they'd returned to Dahngrest, that was when Judith decided Ba'ul deserved a break. A couple days later, they'd heard of the 200 man-melee challenge, and the group found it suitable to beat the giant monster in the Weasand of Cados for warm-up first.

Karol and Estelle were both worried for the ex-knight and Krityan woman who were especially eager for this event. They both knew how strong of a fighting spirit the man and woman had, but...200 monsters and people in one round without any breaks? It seemed like suicide!

Panting as he finally caught up with the group, Raven wearily looked at Judith,"Please, Judy darlin'... I'm sure Ba'ul's--"

"I'm afraid not. He still needs more rest."

"Ya didn't even say nothin' to the guy!"

"Oh, how do you know that?"

"...Uh..."

"Oh, shut up, old man! You can use the exercise anyway! Now can we get going? I want to get back before the innkeeper thinks we left and gives our room away!" stomping off in the direction of the giant city, everyone followed after the young mage, Raven weeping as he did so. He didn't even get a break... No fair! Upon entering the city, Raven was practically run over from all the tourists rushing inside the coliseum. It seemed like someone had just entered the 200 man-melee challenge.

Judith pouted, sauntering closer to the arena,"Aw, that's disappointing. I was hoping to be the first one to try." Raven sighed, were they going to watch whoever just entered the arena fight? He hoped not. All he wanted to do was sleep. Entering the building, the group stared at the lineup that blocked any entrance in getting to the audience seats of the arena, many people pushing and shoving and shouting at each other, wanting to watch a man maul some beasts, or get mauled himself. Bunch of savages.

"Well, it doesn't look like we'd be able to see what was going on even if we used force," Yuri commented,"Might as well just head to bed and call it a day." Raven's head perked up from staring at his feet and a wide grin plastered on his face. Finally! Sleep! Glorious, glorious sleep! Quickly racing to their room they'd reserved earlier, Raven hopped under the covers of his bed, not even bothering to take off his shoes, let alone change his clothes. The man was literally out like a light, off in his little dream world the instant his head landed on the pillow.

"Hey...! Hey, old man...!" Raven stirred, grumbling as someone shook his shoulder. He didn't wanna get up! It was still his sleepy time...

"Raven, I swear to god if you don't get up right now, I'll blast you back to Dahngrest!!" okay, THAT made him wanna get up! Opening his eyes, he gazed sleepily at the glaring Rita who loomed over him, dressed in an outfit she received from a mage in Halure for some reason or another. The man blinked, what would the girl want this late at night? Glancing around, he noticed everyone else was sleeping peacefully. Just exactly what time was it? Forcefully being yanked out from under the covers, and dragged down the halls of the coliseum, Raven could only finally ask,

"What the hell's goin' on, Rita?"

The mage turned back to look at him, continuing their journey down the hall,"I wanted to try the two-hundred man melee myself, but everyone would be entering once it was morning, so I decided, why not enter now?"

Raven cocked an eyebrow,"Huh? I thought they only held the tournies in the mornin'."

"I asked the receptionist a couple of minutes ago, but that changed once they could actually hold the one-hundred man melee."

"I see... So, why'd ya need to drag me along in the first place?"

"Uh...S-she wouldn't let me sign up without an adult, that's all!"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say ya were lyin'."

"S-shut up! I am not!!"

Raven sighed, smirking lightly. Sometimes this kid was so weird. Waiting as Rita registered to enter, he still couldn't help but wonder why the girl woke him up of all people. He was sure Yuri or Judith wouldn't have minded accompanying her to the coliseum... But maybe she didn't wake them up because they were both eager to enter themselves. Karol, she definitely wouldn't give two rats ass to bother with, and she probably wouldn't want to disturb Estelle... So, was that why she picked him? Because he didn't want to enter the tournament himself and she could get him to watch without much trouble? Ah, whatever, she woke him from his beauty sleep! She was mean.

Well, he knew that already.

Oh well, he was up, might as well watch how this turned out.

...Waaait a minute. Where was Rita getting the entrance fee money? She didn't have any of her own, since the group shared all the money they got from monsters. Estelle didn't have immediate access to the castle funds, of course, so... Did she just take money from the group without everyone's permission?! Well, he guessed it really didn't matter. They _did_ have over 14 million gald... Daaamn, how did he not notice how rich they were until now?! They coulda totally upgraded the Fiertia and made it go at breakneck speeds! They coulda bought shoes that allowed them to fly! Speaking of which, how the hell did Rita fly? Hmmm... Maybe she invented boots that helped her fly!

From that day forth, Raven vowed to get a pair.

Getting herself all ready, Rita looked toward Raven who gave her luck, and he wandered towards the seats. Not many people were there at the moment, only some who had stayed up late and had heard or seen the mage enter. Sitting himself in one of the seats closest to the edge, Raven sighed, waiting for the announcer to make his ears bleed. Did they _really_ have to make his microphone so loud? Seriously, he felt sorry for the people sitting close to the speakers or the announcer himself, they'd probably go deaf in an instant. He started questioning if the guy was actually so loud it could be heard from Mantaic. He'd heard rumors, but...

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the man jumped, yelping as the announcer boomed overhead. He would _never_ get used to that. You never knew when he was going to start screaming his head off,"We have a challenger for the two-hundred man melee! Is this person insane?"

Yes, they are.

"Are they crazy?!"

Blastia crazy.

"Are they a little messed up in the head?!"

Okay, get on with it.

"Well, everyone who joins this mysterious two-hundred man melee is all of the above, naturally! And joining us tonight is the worldwide famous mage of Aspio, you've probably heard of her as being a super-genius weirdo, and I say she is!"

This dude is dead after the match. Raven knew it.

"Here for you tonight to hopefully finish the tournament, and not get petrified like the last person, is Rita Mordio, the Seeker!"

The audience seats seemed to fill up in literally less than a second, rampages of cheers storming throughout all the people as Rita walked out into the ring. Once she entered, a looming hatred seemed to pour over the crowd and everyone grew silent as the young girl slowly lifted her head, staring straight at the announcer. Her eyes seemed to literally be on fire, and it felt like sparks of flames where thrown into the audience. If looks could kill, this one was close enough, as the announcer literally fainted seconds after receiving the menacing glare from the mage. Silence filled the arena, and Raven sighed. He was thankful he never made her _that_ angry before.

Soon the crowd started chanting, wanting the event to start. Since Rita knocked the announcer unconcious, there was nobody to tell the guards to open the monster gates. Even then, they didn't, until...

"Will you all shut up?! Hurry up and get on with it, I didn't pay to stand around in front of all these people and look like an idiot!!" and that seemed to do it. Monsters and human volunteers started pouring out into the stadium, and the crowd roared. Raven flinched. Okay, he took it back, the announcer wasn't as bad as these people.

"Go, Rita!"

"Oh, please don't hurt yourself!"

"Aw, if I couldn't be the first one to do it, I wanted to at least be the first one from our little group to do it..."

"Hey, come on, Judy, you'll get your chance."

"...Not the first chance."

Raven jumped, stuttering incoherent words at Yuri, Judith, Karol, Estelle and Repede who were sitting next to him. When did they...?! He didn't have time to ask before turning back to the arena when the young mage entered overlimit. She only entered overlimit when she was in a tough spot though, so why was she using it so early?

"Blah, blah, blah... Tidal Wave!!" Raven blinked when the waters sprouted and nearly instantly wiped out the surrounding enemies. The young mage continued recasting the spell, sometimes not even finishing saying "Tidal Wave" before starting her "Blah, blah, blah" excuse for a chant again. She had to enter overlimit again once in awhile, but she just continued on with the water spell. This went on for a couple more seconds, until her magic spell deteriorated on the entrance of the human volunteers after she'd killed 28 monsters. If Raven had a drink, he would have spit it out AND started choking on it at the same time. What the hell were Adecor and Boccos doing there?!

Before the two knights could even reach the mage, she'd already swept them in the circling waters, and they were soon knocked out cold and quickly brought out of the arena. When ice and water monsters started popping up, the crowd screamed, half with fright and half with excitement, as she started using Meteor Storm instead, lots of them probably unaware that they wouldn't hurt what the girl didn't want them to. When the ice and water monsters had been defeated for the time being, Rita started using Tidal Wave again, often having to reenter overlimit, but this never broke the chain of "Blah, blah, blah's" or anything.

"Oh my, this is quite interesting."

"I wonder what would happen if she did this to one of the Giganto Monsters."

"I'd say the combo would get to over one-thousand."

Raven ignored the small-talk between the Krityan and ex-knight. He didn't get what they were talking about with "high combos" or "lots of grade" or "more bonus experience for being on unknown". Crazy kids and their whatzamahoozits.

As more minutes passed, more monsters were defeated with the same chant and two spells that the mage only seemed to use, switching when necessary. The crowd never stopped screaming as the tally on the moniter continued higher and higher to reaching 200. The group was shocked at many familiar faces that entered the tournament: First, there was Adecor and Boccos, then there was Nan, then Tison, then Gauche and Droite. How many more people did they know would end up in there?!

...Nobody it seemed.

When a giant man entered the arena, covered in blue and purple armor, wielding a giant axe (which Raven was surprised didn't chop off the man's extremely long blue hair), Rita seemed worn out from using all that energy. He honestly didn't know how she'd been able to use all that much for so long without even glancing at an orange or pineapple gel. Quickly finishing off the weaker monsters that roamed the ring with melee attacks, the mage dodged any move the bigger man threw at her. She was looking for a chance to whip out a pineapple gel, no doubt.

When the man crashed his axe into the ground and lifted out a piece of rock in the air to smash, Rita quickly dodged and grabbed one of the squishy treats to heal her energy and plopped it in her mouth, swallowing it without even chewing. The giant stopped his attack, and quickly rushed over to the girl, gripping her by the throat before slamming her on the ground as he yelled,

"NO-" a wave of fire seemed to rush from the ground as the girl was forcefully slammed down into it,

"ITEMS-" he started to stomp on the mage, the earth cracking, causing giant stones to fly everywhere,

"EVEEEEERRRRR!!!" he brutally lifted his axe into the sky, Rita flying along with it and the rest of the fire waves that seemed to be emitted from all the force. When the girl fell limp to the floor, Raven was sure he was white as a sheet. The whole stadium fell quiet as the giant man loomed over the girl, who laid unmoving on the floor. Raven's heart sunk as seconds passed and the girl still did not move. W-was she dead? S-she couldn't be dead! Where the hell were those paramedics?! The girl needed help, damnit!

Murmurs slowly started to weave through and around the shocked and worried onlookers as more seconds flew by, no paramedics rushing out on stage to help the young mage. Raven was getting fed up, just about to fling himself over the railings and down to the girl's side, using Love Shot to help her, but his body wouldn't move. As the giant assassin started to turn to leave the stage, victory in his hands, Rita suddenly lifted herself off the ground, bringing herself into overlimit again. She was breathing heavily and blood was trickling down her forehead. The crowd cheered as she continued her barrage of Tidal Waves, mixing in a few Meteor Storms, Thunder Blades, Violent Pains, and nearly every other spell of hers until the man was eating the dirt. Heavily relieved, Raven too cheered as loud as he could. He wanted that girl to win now. He wouldn't know what he'd do if someone else made her stay unconcious for that long.

Damnit, he almost had a heart attack!

Despite the smirk that graced her face at the next wave of monsters that appeared, Rita was shaking badly. She quickly popped two lemon gels in her mouth and started the Tidal Wave cycle once more. It continued on and on and on as the crowd continued shrieking and rooting the mage to keep on going, which she did with pleasure. The girl never stopped using the magic spells, and Raven knew she was stretching her limits way too far now, as she wasn't keeping up her strength in casting as fast. It seemed she didn't want to use any more items in case something like what that man did happened again. But if she kept going on like this, she would surely cause serious damage to herself! If she made herself eat the dirt, he was going to teach her a lesson! His poor heart wouldn't be able to take it!

Finally, the counter rose to 199, and the group was shocked to see the man from the Memory Labyrinth. Rita wasn't taking any bullshit from this man, no sir. Immediately she casted the spinning waves, and her opponent seemed to be able to get out of it sometimes with an arte, and inched ever so closer to the young mage. But before he could land a blow, the girl changed tactics,

"O' resplendent mystery, Mystic Drive!!"

"This'll tingle a little! Thunder Blade!"

The stadium seemed to darken as four coloured orbs of magic swirled in corners, Rita flying to the middle of the stage, flipping the pages of her book as her opponent remained frozen in spot,"O' power that lies in the root of all creation," the pages started flipping faster,"o' memory inscribed in ancient's past," the girl readied herself as the orbs grew brighter,"hear my call and arise before me...!" spinning in a circle, she guarded as the orbs shot beams of light at her, the lights blinding the audience and violently attacking the man as she screamed,

"ANCIENT CATASTROPHE!!!"

When the lights dimmed, the crowd was silent, before roaring wildly with applause. Out of all of them, the members of Brave Vesperia were definitely the loudest, leaning far over the railings. The mysterious man from the Labyrinth was knocked out cold, and the counter said plain as day,"200/200". She did it. She won...but...

Jumping over the railings, Raven rolled on the ground, before quickly sprinting to the young mage who collapsed in his arms the moment he got to her. Shaking the girl lightly, the man started to panic. He couldn't tell if she was breathing.

"Rita! Rita, hey! Answer me!! Rita!!!"

"Nnn... Shut up, old man... Lemme sleep..." the girl stirred in his arms, her legs buckling beneath her and Raven slowly brought them both to the ground. Resting the girl's head on his lap, he quickly formed a healing needle in his hand, and injected the medicine into Rita's arm. The rest of Brave Vesperia was soon by her side, Estelle using her healing artes without any hesitation.

Raven smiled lightly at the mage who was fast asleep, and he couldn't help but wonder if this event made his past couple of weeks worse or better.

He was damn well proud of her, but she _did_ scare him way more than half to death.

And that was worse than all the walking he had to do and sweets he had to eat.

---

Sneakers: LONG THING IS LONG.  
WHY IS IT SO LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG?


	3. Charmed

The Magical Bee and Vagabond Wolf

_Charmed_

---

Rita glared as she dragged behind the group, slowly gazing around the sleek surfaces of Zaude. The old man hadn't stopped whining, so they came here to shut him up. Rita would have gladly done it with her fist (or fireballs), but Yuri finally said they'd go before she had the chance. There was absolutely no reason to be here! Once Alexei and Yeager gone, the Royal Guards and Leviathan's Claw left the place, leaving it with it's little amount of monsters. If he wanted to fight said monsters, Rita was going to kill him! They could go to Releweise Hollow (even though she hated that place very much) and kill the monsters there! They were tougher than these aquatic creatures, by far!

But if he didn't want to fight the monsters...then what the hell were they there for?! The only thing note-worthy in this place were the ancient writings on the wall, which Rita and Judy both translated and memorized anyway! Ugh, whatever it was, it better be damned good! They didn't have time to be fooling around! They had a world to save!

Wait...the world was being saved by a bunch of kids...and Yuri and Raven. Heh, it was like that Tales of the Abyss fairytale she read once. The mage stopped, suddenly realizing something. The character "Guy" and Flynn...looked oddly similar. _Too_ similar, in fact. They both also shared a great deal of understanding to everyone around them. Rita shuddered. What if it...hadn't been a fairytale? What if there really _was_ a planet named Auldrant, and what if Flynn had been a replica of Guy, but somehow ended up on Terca Lumereis?! Shaking her head, Rita told herself how ridiculous she was being and fastened her steps, storming down to the front of the group, slowly glancing at Raven as she passed by him.

She wondered how this journey would have been like if he'd been more..."Jade-like". The girl had to admit, even if the military man wasn't real (...or..._was_ he?) she had taken an extreme liking to his character. The way he looked, the way she imagined his voice, and his calm, collected attitude he had in most situations. She also loved his humour ("_Oh, I assure you, I'm _crying_ on the inside. _Wracked_ with guilt._"), and the way he got along with Anise was just absolutely _adorable_, and the mage secretly wished to be the puppeteer. It seemed like the girl was Jade's right-hand, they seemed to get along with the "awkward bond" that they had, and the man was just so..._perfect_ in every way she could think of! Aaah, why'd they have to get stupid Raven?! It wasn't fair! She wanted Jade!

...She was going insane.

She was catching the old man's stupid.

She needed help.

_Badly._

"Rita? Rita, are you all right?" the mage blinked, a worried princess standing infront of her, waving her hand infront of the mage's face. Rita grabbed hold of Estelle's hand for a second, then roughly pushed it down.

"I'm all right, _Estellise_." she sneered, glaring at the pink-haired girl. The two had gotten into a tiny fight a couple days ago, and Estelle tried to act as if it never happened, but Rita wasn't letting it slide. The princess was slowly starting to slip back into the category which Rita had put her, Yuri, Karol and Repede in when they met, which was: Annoying.

Yeah, the naive princess was dragging herself back to that group, where Karol still stayed and the old man was making his home. If the noble pushed herself past the old man in the annoying scale, Rita would lose absolutely all respect for her and probably never speak to her again. Ooh, just thinking about it was enough to make the mage want to strangle the princess! How dare she?!

It was just..._wrong_ on all levels!!

"We're going to leave you behind!" Rita huffed as Yuri called them, the rest of the group walking ahead. Storming past Estelle, Rita walked in the middle of everyone, carefully examining the group, comparing them to the characters in that _Tales of the Abyss_ book. It wasn't like her to do something like this,_ at all_, but she just couldn't help herself! She didn't know why, either! It was just...fun! Imagining Yuri as a snobby, spoiled noble was just hilarious! And imagining Repede floating in a little ring...

_Adorable._

Blinking, the mage quickly shook herself out of her thoughts. She had to snap out of it! This wasn't like her, damnit! Aaargh!! What the hell was happening to her?! Damnit!! They were just fictional characters! They were not real, Flynn was not a "replica" and...argh!! Slowly calming herself down, the girl slowly realized which room they'd entered. This was where they killed Yeager... His blood still stained the ground. The twins who had served under him were placing flowers near the blood, Gauche hearing the group arrive first. Turning, her vermilion eyes glared at them all, before she had to nudge her sister to pay more attention to her surroundings. Droite turned around as well, and seemed shocked before getting into a fighting stance like her sister, a glare adoring her eyes as well.

"Brave Vesperia! What are you doing here, _murderers_?" Gauche hissed, her voice filled with a venomous hate.

"If you're here to give your prayers to Yeager, then go away! He wouldn't like your prayers!"

"Droite..."

"S-sorry! D-don't look at me like that, it's scary!"

Rita looked out of the corner of her eye as Raven and Judith slowly reached for their weapons, Yuri's hand twitching on his, and mentally prepared herself in case of a battle.

"Ya do realize it's not worth it, right? Revenge is seriously overrated nowadays." the two girls flinched at Raven's words, but reached for their swords.

"So what?! We're sick and tired of being depressed all the time! It's no fun!" Droite whined, pouting. Rita raised an eyebrow. She looked ridiculous! It was like she was begging for the old man to get her candy or something! Raven stepped forward infront of Rita, who was annoyed at having to sidestep to look at something that wasn't his back. Why'd he move anyway? There wasn't any need to! Jeeze!

"Hey, hey, hey now! If you wanna hold grudges, don't go forgettin' Alexei."

Yeager's followers seemed to be surrounded by a frigid aura, their full attention now on the old man.

Gauche's glare grew wilder as the red-head reached for her sword,"You are alive. He, on the other hand, is dead."

Yuri grinned at this, flicking away his sword's scabbard, obviously happy for the fight.

"Wait a minute, Yuri!" Rita scowled at the princess which ran infront of the vigilante. The twins weren't up for a chit-chat, you idiot, so let them fight! How stupid can you get?! Even Raven was seeming more bright than the girl, and he was stupid beyond all reason! Okay...well he had a few good points, but that was it!

"How come you didn't fight alongside Yeager? You just stood behind and watched..."

"We don't have to explain that to you! Come on, Droite!"

"Right!"

The girls charged at the group, who quickly turned to their battle strategy. Rita, Raven and Estelle would stay in the back and cast magic, Raven casting Love Shot incase Estelle didn't seem to notice when somebody was _critically injured_, or if Karol was obviously not going to get to them in time. Everyone else would stay in the front lines, kicking some ass and taking some names... As Yuri liked to call it. Despite it being seven against two, the twins literally weren't going down without a fight. They easily knocked out Karol and Repede, the Krityan woman barely able to get herself over to either to bring them back with a Life Bottle, seeing as the princess was too busy casting Holy Rain to cast Ressurection and didn't feel the need to _stop_.

As Gauche darted towards Rita, the mage didn't know what to do. She was creating the magic circle for Tidal Wave and couldn't stop herself to defend! Damn stupid spinning!

"Love me, baby, love me!" the green-haired girl giggled as she grazed the mage's side with her sword, her charm spell afflicted on the blade for the attack. The girl grinned as Rita's eyes glazed over. Yay! It worked! Bouncing back to attack the vigilante, Droite was going to let the mage attack her friends by herself and she'd try to watch. It would be fun to see her attack her friends with Meteor Storm or something!

"H-HEY! RITA!! WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YA DOIN'?!" everyone stopped what they were doing, five of the people in the room having dropped their weapons. Rita Mordio...was hugging Raven...and _giggling_.

"Your coooat~" the mage giggled again, tugging on the older man's coat,"It's so...it's so smooth and warm~ Can I wear it, Raven, pretty, pretty pleeeaaassseee~?"

The man wasn't sure what to do. He felt like fainting, throwing up, and trying to slap himself awake from this nightmare all at the same time. This was just...creepy beyond all words! What was wrong with her?! She was really starting to freak him out!"

"Come ooooooon! I wanna weeeaaarrr iiit! Raaaveeeeennnn!!" the girl tugged harder on the sleeve of the jacket, before sliding to the ground by Raven's legs. Soon, she was having another laughing fit, and clung herself to the older man's knees, who seriously wanted the mage to go back to normal. Everyone else blinked, absolutely dumbfounded and confused, before Yuri snickered and burst into laughter. He wished he had a camera! He wished he had a camera so bad! The look on Raven's face was absolutely priceless!

Dragging her sister away, Brave Vesperia could barely hear the toned whispers coming from Gauche and Droite.

"Droite, what the hell did you do?"

"I-I don't know, I swear! I-I just used charm and--"

"Aaaaaw! You're so _cute_ when you're embarrassed, Raaavveeeennn~!" the mage grinned, back on her feet, pinching the older man's cheeks,"But you'd look soooo much cuter with your hair down, like when you were a swan!"

"W-when I was a...what?"

"Sw...Swan! You knoooww....when you were in your knight outfit! You had those wings and called yourself a swan!"

Raven's eye twitched, Rita was dangerously close, their faces inches apart. And what was she going on about?! What was wrong with her?!

"W...wings?"

"Yeaaaahh! Don't you remembeeeerrr~? You were...fl...floyi....flown....floating! You... You looked like a Sex God~!"

"I...WHAT?!"

Raven could only stare blankly, his eyebrow now twitching. His brain had stopped functioning at this time. He wasn't sure if his heart was beating, or if his lungs were getting any oxygen. All he knew was that he was scared the _fuck_ out of his mind. Of course he knew he was a Sex God, that was a given! But...hearing that from the mage that beat him up and called him perverted and hated his guts...it was just...it was just... He didn't know! Words failed him at this very moment! The man didn't even do anything when the girl skipped around him, taking out his ponytail and started playing with his hair. Standing on her toes, Rita continued giggling as she started giving Raven uneven pigtails, frowing when she realized she didn't have anything to put the second pigtail in.

By now, Yuri was on the floor continuing to laugh hysterically. Judith herself was having to cover her mouth to stifle the chuckles, Karol could only just stare and blink, while Estelle and the twins were each seperately wonder what to do to bring the mage back to normal. This whole thing could deal on being funny, disturbing, or disturbingly-funny.

"Hey, Ravennnn~ Did Alexeeeiiii..."

Oh god, why was she bringing him up? Why was she bringing him up? What was she gonna say? _Why was she bringing him up_?!

"....ever rape you~?" and that was all the man could take. Raven fell flat on his face, unconcious, which only caused Yuri to laugh even harder and Rita to get teary-eyed.

"Oh, no!! I broke Alexei's puppet!! Juuuuddyyyyy! You hafta help...heelp me! Alexei's gon eat my soul!" the mage cried, clinging onto the older woman, sobbing into the girl's stomach as she slowly slid back down to the floor.

Judith closed her eyes, smiling gently at Rita, trying to hold back her giggles. She opened her mouth, before realizing she was at a loss for words.

"Rita!" everyone turned to Estelle, who's hands were placed firmly on her hips,"I...I believe Natalia belongs with Guy!"

The sobbing mage instantly seemed to be engulfed in flames as she literally floated to the princess, looming over the pink-haired woman, glaring at her with such intensity _everbody_ could feel it. Yuri had stopped laughing as a result. As the mage leaned in closer, Estelle regretted saying that, feeling as if Rita stared at her like that any longer, she would have literally been killed by a look.

"_You. What?_" Rita sneered, her voice cornered with a combination of a freezing fire so fierce, everybody flinched.

Estelle backed away, stuttering,"Uh...uhm...I-I believe Natal--"

"I should _kill_ you right now, you _bitch_." the princess squeaked, dashing behind Yuri who had gotten himself back on his feet. She didn't want to die! Especially not for such a silly reason! A-and did Rita just call her a...bitch?

"Estelle, who are these 'Natalia' and 'Guy'?" Judith asked, warily eyeing the mage who continued to slowly float, not moving from that spot.

"Oh, um, they're characters from a novel Rita and I had both read. She...doesn't exactly like Natalia's personality."

"Ooh, oh! I read that! Jade was my favourite, he was so dreamy and--"

"Droite!!"

"Sorry..."

Minutes passed in silence as everyone watched Rita continue to float, before she suddenly fell to the ground. Yuri quickly ran over to examine her, and sighed with relief, waving a hand at the others,"She's just sleeping!" At the sound of this, a whole wave of ease crashed down into the room.

"So, uuhh..." Droite fumbled with her sword,"Sorry about that! Next time we fight...things won't get crazy! So..uh...bye!" and she dashed off, her sister not so far behind, yelling at the other.

"Hey, old man, you all right?" Yuri questioned as Raven slowly lifted himself off the ground, holding his nose.

The man shook his head, as Estelle used First Aid to heal his broken nose. Staring at the vigilante, the man slowly tugged out the ponytail on the side of his head, before looking darkly at the sleeping mage.

"...I feel violated."

---

Sneakers: I hate Estelle. And Natalia.  
And now I shall hide from people who like them.

And sorry this was so...yeah. It's just, when Rita gets charmed, she sounds drunk whenever she says her lines.  
So this popped in my head.  
And...and yeah.

Yay. XD


	4. What You Say!

The Magical Bee and Vagabond Wolf

_What You Say?!_

---

Rita groaned, slowly opening her eyes, blinking at the dim light that shone down on her face. Where was she? This definitely wasn't Zaude! ...What happened anyway? All she remembered was Droite cutting her and then nothing. Did she black out from such a small wound? If she did, she wouldn't forgive herself for being so weak.

Lifting herself up, the mage looked around warily at her surroundings. It was obviously night, and that big tree outside obviously screamed that they were in Halure. Why Halure, though? Nordopolica, Aurnion and Zaphias were all closer to Zaude then the City of Blossoms. Oh well, nothing was going to happen if she dwelled on it. Shivering as she left the warmth of the blankets, she slid off the bed she had been laying on, and stared out the giant window infront of her. She never realized how...pretty the tree could look at night...

"Oh! You're up!" the mage turned to the Krityan who entered the room, a small smile plastered on her face. Rita frowned, there was something peculiar in the other woman's ruby eyes...

Lightly shaking her head, Rita rested her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised in question,"So what happened at Zaude? I can't remember anything after Droite stabbed me... Did I...black out?"

Judith giggled, crossing her arms,"Something like that~"

"....What do you mean?" the mage scowled, voice dragging on rage,"What did I do?"

The Krityan wasted no time in explaining, obviously having to hold in her laughter as she did so. As the woman kept explaining in what seemed like excruciating detail, Rita could feel herself lose every inch of sanity and self-respect she had. She could also feel her breakfast, lunch and dinner from the past 5 days rising up to her throat.

"I DID _WHAT_?!"

"Exactly what I said."

Grabbing the older woman by her shoulder's Rita screamed, glaring with panic and disbelief,"YOU'RE LYING!!"

"Oh, I'm no good at telling lies."

"..."

Thirty seconds later of absolute silence, the young girl screamed, citizens back in the capital barely able to hear the girl...but they still could. After the mage dashed out of the inn, Judith blinked a couple times, before talking to herself. Yep, she went deaf.

As Rita rushed by at breakneck speeds, the innkeeper blinked, wondering if a small tornado just swept through his inn... Or he was imagining things and all the papers magically had a party and scattered themselves all over the ground. Standing on the doorstep, Rita panted and glanced around. She saw a couple of Halure's citizens wandering around, but no sign of Yuri or the others.

Wait...was that Raven she was hearing?

"...nine thousand two hundred twenty-one...nine thousand two hundred twenty-two..."

Where the hell was he? What the hell was he counting? And how could there be over nine thousand of it?! Damnit, if she could find him, she'd beat the truth out of him! Judith could be lying about not being able to lie for all she knew! Raven she could at least trust to the truth when she threatened to kill him!

"Hey, look who's up!" Rita turned, pouting at Yuri as he grinned, walking down the hill from Halure's giant tree, Repede alongside him. He had the same look Judy had in her eyes... They were laughing at her!! That's what that look was! They were laughing at her with their eyes!!

"Just what are you so_ happy _about?" she sneered, glaring swords into the ex-knight.

"Oh, nothing, really. By the way, I don't think the town appreciated the late wake-up call."

Rita flustered, crossing her arms and looking away,"Sh-shut up!! Now tell me, did I _really_ say...and do...that...stuff...to Raven?"

Yuri laughed, nodding,"What, you didn't believe Judy? What was that scream for then?"

"...I was just double checking... Now excuse me, I'm going to find an annoying green-haired brat to kill." Yuri laughed again, watching as the mage stalked off. She had to be joking, right? The man just expected her to go outside the town and knock a few monsters silly, but when Ba'ul slowly started to land near where Rita was leaving, did the vigilante realize he didn't have Ba'ul's horn, she must have somehow grabbed it off of him without him noticing.

So...

She _was _serious.

...

"Hey, Rita, wait!!"

After (somehow) managing to drag Rita off the boat and back to the city, Yuri apologized to the Entelexeia who flew back in the sky to wherever he went when he wasn't bringing Brave Vesperia and co. town to town.

"Were you actually serious?!" he knew she was, but he just couldn't help but ask.

"...What? Me stealing Ba'ul's Horn, calling him, telling him to go the the Manor of the Wicked before you dragged me off wasn't proof enough that I was?"

"...Listen, we'll meet those two again, and you'll get to kick Droite's ass at that time. Right now, you're sticking with us."

Rita scoffed, pointing an accusing finger at the man,"Oh, yeah? What makes you think you can just keep me here? I'm free to do whatever I want! It's not like I'm apart of your stupid guild or anything!"

"We still have the Adephagos and Duke to deal with." Yuri frowned as the mage raised a questioning eyebrow.

"...The Adephagos has been sitting there for _months_, Duke's life-stealing formula seems to have stopped working, and I wouldn't be surprised if the guy himself died for sitting up there with probably no food. The world would be fine even if Karol was doing the formula I did to save Estelle and make the spirits and whatnot."

"...But...the Adephagos could strike at any time!"

"So then why the hell are we just sitting here, hm?!"

"I don't know! Do _you_ wanna run through such a giant castle floating in the air?" his excuse was lame, he knew that, but Yuri just didn't want to get a weird look if he told the mage it felt as if some higher-power was forbidding him to go to Tarqaron.

"No, not really, because right now I have my mind set on killing a certain someone for making me...Oooh, I can't even say it, and I don't even remember doing it, but knowing that I did it is just...wrong!!"

"...nine thousand three hundred fifteen....nine thousand three hundred sixteen..." Rita blinked, looking everywhere she could see, but still couldn't find Raven. Where the hell was he anyway?! Why was she caring in the first place?! Not like she... Okay, she did _care_ for him, but not very much!

"What's he doing, anyway?"

"You mean the old man? I think he became emotionally and mentally scarred with what you did, so he wanted to come to Halure to count the petals to get his mind off of it."

"...Oh... Can I go kill Droite _now_?"

"No."

"Bastard."

Rita sighed and headed up the short hill to the giant tree. She stared at it blankly, wishing she could pin Yeager's follower to it, douse her and the tree in oil, cast fireball, and watch it go BOOM! That'd be so amazing. Now if only she could do it... The girl pouted and levitated herself to the top of the tree, sitting herself in one of the branches. She really wanted to go pound some monsters if she couldn't pound that pigtailed freak, but she also didn't want to leave the town if she wasn't fighting that one particular human.

"...nine thousand three hundred thirty-two..." Rita squinted, still unable to find where the man was, yet he sounded closer than before. Oh well, she might as well just try to calm herself down by looking at the stars. Immediately, the brightest star in the night sky caught her eye, and Rita couldn't help but stare at it intently.

It was stupid, why'd it have a back-story for it anyway? Not like it was true. Just stupid made-up stories, like her _Tales of the Abyss_ novel. As much as she wished for Jade to be alive, she knew it was never going to happen. He was just words in a book, and a picture in her mind.

"Nine thousand three hundred forty-four." Rita squealed, jumping as Raven sat beside her, pointing and counting the cherry blossoms on the giant tree.

"What the hell, old man?!" she shrieked, as she regained her balance, glaring at the older man.

He in turn looked at her distantly, before bringing his hands to his face,"Ya made me lose count, damnit!"

"Well sorry that you scared me half to death!"

"Well sorry you were too stupid ta block and ya got charmed, did things I'd rather not mention, makin' me want ta count these stupid petals ta take my mind off it!"

"Well sorry for this!" Rita yelled, punching the older man square in the face, watching as he fell to the trunk of the tree.

You know, now she seemed kind of happy she got charmed and did what she did, even if she didn't remember doing it. The old man probably deserved it anyway.

And Estelle _definitely_ deserved being called a bitch. Guy belonged with Luke or Asch, damnit!

---

Sneakers: TEEHEE.

Sorry if it wasn't as great of a reaction you were expecting from Rita, Lupanari...if you were expecting a reaction anyway lol.

And sorry the ending sucks, brain died. XD;

...Actually, sorry the whole thing sucks lol. XD;;

I'd also totally hang with Natalia over Estelle too, AliceGoesBam, Estelle just makes me wanna punch babies.  
And lots of them.


	5. Stupid

The Magical Bee and Vagabond Wolf

_Stupid_

---

It was just meant to be a simple task.

Walk in, wander around for around 5 minutes, then head back out to prove that she wasn't scared.

But she had to go and get _lost_.

"S-stupid haunted maze...Stupid...Stupid maze...S-stupid old man...Stupid kid...S-stupid Yuri...Stupid dog...Stupid Judith...Stupid Estelle...Stupid all of them..." Rita shivered, slowly walking around and glancing all around her. She was cold. She was _really_ cold. She hadn't dressed up for the stupid holiday, and despite all the layers in her clothes, they weren't all that heavy. The mage would have preferred standing in Zopheir in just her spa outfit, it was that cold this night.

Suddenly feeling the prescence of someone following her, Rita stopped in her tracks and swirled around,"Wh-who's there?!" she cried, slowly taking steps backwards. Nobody. There was nobody but her. But she could have sworn there was _someone_... Whimpering and shaking her head, Rita crossed her arms, turning back around and walking some more.

"I-it was probably j-just your imagination, Rita... Y-yeah...you're imagination..." she told herself, lightly looking back again. Nothing was there but darkness.

It was stupid! Who built a maze without any guiding lights?! You'd need a lamp to bring with you, but the group didn't know that when they sent her in! The only good thing was that she actually was able to see her hand in front of her face, but it was still ridiculously stupid! Who MADE such a maze so dark?!

"Idiots. Th-They're all idiots. Everyone who participates in this stupid holiday is an idiot..." she muttered darkly, before feeling her face crash into the ruggid leaves and branches of the maze walls. Cursing, she quickly backed up and glared, looking around for a pathway. She didn't see one. It was a dead end.

"Damn it!" she seethed, turning on her heel and heading back the way she came. It was getting colder as she continued her way back, her face, hands and legs becoming numb, her feet getting ridiculously sore, and her whole body feeling on the urge of shutting down thanks to being so tired and... No, she wasn't scared! She wasn't scared at all!

Stopping when the mazes leaves almost hit her face again, Rita froze when she heard another footstep after hers. Then there was nothing more.

"Wh-who's there?!" she called out again, hurriedly glancing around her. All she saw was darkness,"A-answer me!! I'll set this maze on fire!!" she screeched, slightly whimpering after her little threat. Rita was bluffing, she herself could say so. She may be lost, tired, sore, and numb, but she wasn't going to go setting the place on fire. Little kids and their parents could be walking around in the maze for all she knew, and she wasn't going to hurt innocent people.

She just hoped whoever was there wouldn't catch her bluff...well, if there WAS anybody there in the first place. It still could just be her imagination.

Gulping when nobody answered, the girl slowly started walking again, noticing a light fog starting to rise,"Oh, g-great..." she whispered, shuddering again. Typical that there'd be fog, now it was even harder to track her way through this maze. When she stepped on something hard, that most definitely wasn't a rock, Rita hesitantly looked down, seeing her foot...ontop of someone's leg. Someone's leg that was all _bone_. The girl held her breath, holding in a scream, her vision slowly wandering to the skeletons head. Rita slowly let out a shaky laugh as she realized it was just a prop and she quickly hopped over the rest of it.

"I-I'm okay...I'm going to be f-fine... N-nothing's out to get me..." the girl tried reassuring herself, failing as her eyes still quickly darted around,"J-just get out of here...Kick everyone's asses...They all d-deserve i-it..." she sighed, rubbing her arms, trying to keep herself warm. She wished casting fireball would heat her up, but it wouldn't, and she wasn't going to aimlessly throw those things around here. She secretly wished she could, though. It would warm her up and she'd be able to see where she was going...until the smoke blinded her, of course.

The girl froze once again when a twig snapped behind her, and when something started brushing against her side. Her eye twitched, and when that same thing poked her side, Rita screamed and bolted. This time, she didn't even dare look back, her eyes starting to blur with tears, limiting her already limited vision even more.

She just wanted to get out of here.

_Now_!

Her hands scraped against the mazes boundaries, scratches seeping into her fingers and palms as she weaved herself around the maze. It was getting hard for her to breathe, her lungs on fire from the cold, the running and crying. She couldn't help herself. She _was_ scared. Someone, or something, had been following her and it was right there beside her! Anyone would be scared at that!

Yelping, Rita tripped and started skidding across the ground, face getting matching scrapes as her hands from the fallen branches and rocks on the floor. A raging pain shot through her ankle and the mage could only sob into her arms. She was tired. She was cold. She was hurting. She wanted out of here! Why, why, why did she agree to go in here?! She should have just flipped them all off and went back home! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Rita!" the girl slowly looked up at the voice that called her, barely able to tell the person away from the darkness and blinding light that now entered her eyes,"Rita hun', are you okay?!"

It was the old man.

As he picked the girl up, Rita quickly buried her face into his chest, sobbing and clutching to him like no tomorrow. It _was_ partially his fault she was in here, but she'd kick his ass later! She'd kick all of their asses later! She just wanted out of here!

Raven lightly hugged her as she continued to cry, and he said nothing. He didn't know what to say. They'd all been worried about her when she'd been in the maze for over twenty minutes, but when it came to around an hour, they'd went looking for her. Something definitely had her spooked if she ended up crying and didn't care that he was the one to witness it.

"J-just get m-me out of here..." Rita hiccupped, sniffling as Raven ruffled her hair.

"Can ya stand?"

"I-I think I sp...sprained my ankle..."

Rita blinked when she felt the old man lift her gently in his arms, before holding her with just one as he lifted something to his ear,"It's Raven, I found her. We're headin' back now." the mage raised an eyebrow, wondering if he was talking to himself. Or...no, wait, she'd heard of some device to talk to people even if they weren't close.

...They were handing them out at the front of the maze.

...Damn it! She'd been so wrapped up in proving them wrong that'd she forgot to grab one!

Agh!

"So...ya were scared, huh?" the girl glared, before realizing the tone of the man's voice. He wasn't making fun of her. There wasn't an inch of his voice that made it sound like he was making fun of her.

"...I..." the mage stopped herself, blushing lightly as she turned away. Was it all her imagination? Had she been that tired, sore, pissed off and everything inbetween that she just imagined that footstep behind her? That snapping twig? Whatever it was that brushed and poked her side? ...She was going to say it was.

"Hey, I won't tell the others, don't worry."

"...Hah, yeah r-right. Y-you'd go blabbing your mouth the second you g-got the chance." Rita scoffed, rubbing her eyes, trying to rid the leftover tears that still lingered.

Raven laughed,"Aw, do ya really think I'd do such a thing? Well, under normal cicumstances, maybe, but this time I'll let it go, ya must be tired!"

"...Yeah, tired of you."

"Oh, how cruel! And after all this effort of bringin' ya back safely!"

Rita rolled her eyes and shakily tried to catch a glimpse of her ankle. She couldn't feel it anymore.

"Hey, o-old man..." she muttered,"How d-does my ankle look?"

After a few seconds of silence, she watched as Raven shook his head,"I think it's more than sprained. Looks broken and is swellin' up like a big ol' balloon."

"Well, th-that's just great!" Rita huffed, crossing her arms and pouting. Stupid maze and stupid props and stupid tripping and stupid broken ankle and stupid everything! The man said nothing in return and the rest of the journey was made in silence, other than the shuffling of Raven's feet on the ground. After what seemed like hours, they finally made it to the exit, where the rest of the group waited for them.

"Rita! Oh, are you all right!?" the pink-haired princess asked, rushing over to the duo and checking over the younger girl.

Rita raised an eyebrow,"D-Does it _look_ like I'm all right?" she spat, raising her hands and pointing to her face and ankle.

"Hey, now, no need to get angry." Yuri commented, walking up behind Estelle, the others following.

"No n-need to get angry?! It's a-all your g-guys' fault that I w-went in there in the first place!" she yelled, glaring.

"You could have just said 'no'." the Krityan noted, staring blankly at the mage.

Rita hissed,"Oh, like you would have let me live it down! You were in on the whole thing, too! Argh, just take me to an inn so I can rest! I'm sick of all your stupid faces right now!"

Tugging on Raven's jacket, she scowled, making sure he got the message that he was taking her to the inn that instant, and the man replied by walking towards the nearby buildings.

"Oh, Repede, there you are!" Rita slowly tilted her head around the side of Raven's arm as the swordsman acknowledged his dog walking out of the maze. Rita's eye twitched again. Was that her ribbon in his mouth? The girl looked down to her arm, and indeed, the yellow ribbon that dangled around it was missing. So...that thing chasing her was the stupid mutt and not her imagination?

...

Whatever, this stupid night was going to be forgotten. She was going to make sure everyone knew that.

If they ever mentioned it again, she was going to push them in that maze and block the exit and see how they like the stupid thing!

---

Sneakers: WHOO. Hey. Sup. Story. Yay. Was meant to be posted before Halloween ended, but I started writing it after I went Trick-or-Treating and then I got distracted and yeah and it's not Halloween anymore but owell I still have candy and chocolate and stuff and sorry this sorta sucks I'm really tired and I rushed the ending but whoo yay run-on sentences yay.

K.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween or whatever lol.

Bai. XD


	6. Face Down

The Magical Bee and Vagabond Wolf

_Face Down_

---

(A/N: This one's gonna be a little bit...darker than the others. Just a heads up. XD; )

"Please! Let...let me out of here, please!" the girl cried, crawling up to the steel bars that blocked her from freedom. She was barely able to lift her arms, hell; she was surprised she could even move. Pain was burning throughout her entire body, pinching every nerve in her system. If it hadn't been for her blood slowly seeping out of the open wounds, causing her to be lightheaded and slightly numb to the crackling sparks travelling around her very being, she was sure she wouldn't be able to stand any second of it, seeing as she was barely even able to stand it now.

"Please...I'm begging you! Please!" tears cascaded down her bruised and bloody face as she stared at the man on the other side of the bars, leaning against the wall, teasing her by twirling the cell's keys around his finger. The man curled his lips into a smirk in reply, staring down at her with victorious eyes. Seeing the girl act in such a way just filled him with great joy, and her screams as she'd been beaten were just delightful. He'd savour those screams, as he was the only one going to hear them; he was going to make sure of that. He was going to be the only one to see the young mage scared, to see her cry. _Only him_.

"Please...please...please..." the girl was laying on her side now, coughing up blood, continuing to mutter the word. She was scared. She was scared she was going to die. She was scared about the things that man would do to her if she didn't die after all. She could only ask for him to let her out of that cell with her voice, but her mind kept asking _why_. _Why_ had he done such a thing? _Why, why, why_? Her vision was failing her, fading to black plenty of times, but she forced herself to stay awake, resulting in everything being extremely blurry. She didn't know why she kept herself awake, she just did. Perhaps she felt that if she closed her eyes and drifted away into unconsciousness, she'd never wake up.

Rita Mordio never thought she'd ever be so close to death so soon in her life.

"It hurts...please...Raven...please..." she muttered, her vision close to fading out like a light until the clinking of the cell's door opened and she was forcefully sat up and slammed against the wall, hands tearing into her shoulders so hard, she could feel the man's fingernails breaking her skin. Her tears seemed to roll down her cheeks faster, terror spreading throughout her whole body at the stare that the older man was giving her. It felt like that stare was going to literally feast off her soul with hatred.

"Listen to me, you little brat," the man seethed, dangerously inching his face closer to Rita's, "until we get back to that little group, you are going to address me as 'Schwann'. I am not going to ask if you understand, because I shouldn't have to, or else you know what happens." the mage whimpered, and the man let the girl go, causing her to fall back on the ground. She eyed..._Schwann _cautiously, watching as he pulled off his jacket and lazily threw it over top of her.

"Sleep. We leave in a couple you think you can't walk anymore, I will tie your leg to mine and you will either walk with me or be dragged along the ground." the girl sobbed even harder at the man's tone of voice. He meant it. He meant every word. When she heard the cell door click shut, and the man's footsteps echo along the walls until they faded to nothing, Rita ripped the purple coat off of her, throwing it across the room despite her arm's protest. Now she was cold, the jacket had been extremely warm for the few moments it lay across her broken body, but she didn't care. She didn't want that atrocious man's clothing on her, after what he did.

The mage had just wanted to investigate what the Knights in Heliord had been doing with the blastia! Perhaps her outburst wasn't the smartest thing she'd done, seeing how she was captured in a matter of a couple of seconds after it, but the blastia! The poor blastia! She had to do _something_!

...But that something did end up getting her arrested. Struggling to curl herself into a ball, the girl shivered, remembering when that perverted old man waltzed into the room, followed by a couple of Knights. She was shocked when they hadn't put the man behind bars either, he seemed like the type to get arrested easily, seeing as how that's how him and Yuri met. She was even more shocked when he told the Knights to leave and lock the door on their way out, not allowing anyone to get in (unless they were Alexei, of course), and they obeyed. He opened her prison, and pushed her when she tried to run past him, smirking with a deadly gaze.

"_So you were the one causing all this commotion, Miss Mordio?_" he questioned, his voice pitched deeper then what she was used to.

"_What the hell do you think you're doing, old man?! Let me go! I said—_" and then the assault started. It was all just a blur, but she heard every little insult, tidbits of information about his split-personality, how she was going to obey him whether she liked it or not, and of course, she remembered the excruciating pain, seeing how it still surged, sewed, and weaved through her body.

She was now under the control of the Imperial Knights. Well, she was before, but she tended to dismiss anything the Knight's requested of her, and told them to find someone else to do their work. Now, she knew there'd be consequences. Now, she knew she'd be in immense amounts of pain if she didn't follow orders.

Why she pleaded and begged for the man to let her go...she didn't know why. Perhaps it was from the blood loss, the aching pain, the light-headedness that made her think that old man would help her, even though he'd just beaten her senseless. Raven...so that man was all a lie? That pervert was nothing more than a mask on an Imperial Knight's Captain's face?

Gagging, the girl felt and tasted the metallic taste of her blood fill her mouth and she slowly found herself drifting off to sleep, blurry vision finally casing into a black, endless state.

---

It only felt like a matter of seconds of unconsciousness before the stab of a familiar needle found it's way into her neck, then dissolved as she was roughly picked up off the ground by her arm. Her tired eyes slowly found themselves opening, and blankly looked up, wincing. Raven was glaring down at her, blue eyes piercing arrows at her, but a placid smile still reigned on his lips.

"Would rather freeze instead of take the only hospitality you would have gotten from me, hm?" he questioned, eyebrow raised comically.

Rita heaved a gasp as he tugged harsher on her arm, dragging her into his chest. He...had no heartbeat. Just what _was_ he?

The man gave a low laugh, "You hear nothing, am I correct? You think I'm a monster, don't you?"

She didn't know how to respond, feeling extremely uncomfortable, being so close to the man who just abused her moments ago. Rita winced and squeaked in pain when the grip on her arm grew even more fierce,

"I asked a question, Mordio, answer it."

She faltered. If she answered honestly, what would happen? What would he do?

"Give me an answer, Mordio. _Now._"

"...Y-yes..." she shut her eyes tightly, expecting maybe a slap or some punches, but nothing came. She remained clenched close to the Knight's chest as he gave another low chuckle.

"Good, good. Don't forget that, all right, Miss Mordio?" it was an order, not a question. The girl was finally free from the man's grip, and she stared warily as he kicked up his jacket on the floor, grabbing it as it flew in the air. He nodded towards to cell door, and she limped out of the little box of hell, the man's footsteps harsh as he followed behind her. Rita gulped, feeling the healing fluid from Raven's...Schwann's...whoever's "Love Shot" flowing more freely through her veins now that she was moving.

Getting outside the building they were in, Rita looked back shyly at the older man, and he gripped her arm again, leading her to where she'd been, sneaking around trying to find what the Knights were doing with the blastia. They'd also been holding labourers there, telling them false information that if they worked hard enough, they'd get a noble status in the city...or something like that, she was more concerned for the blastia. Yes, it seemed horrible, but she grew up with them, and she wasn't a people person anyway.

When they got to the bottom of the elevator leading to the labourer's camp, the young mage grew wide-eyed at Cumore's Knights and Flynn's Knight's duking it out, the latter's Knight's trying not to harm citizens.

"C'mon," Rita had no time to react as Raven/Schwann pulled on her arm yet again, weaving her around the fighting. Even getting out of the city, they still ran, Rita's legs felt like buckling under the fast motion. But she remembered the man's words; she'd either run with him, or she'd be tied to his leg and literally dragged on the ground, so she kept running.

Nearing the city of Capua Torim, they finally started to walk. As Rita struggled to catch her breath, she kept following the Knight, legs shaking uncontrollably. She could run away, he wasn't holding her anymore. She could run away, but she could barely move her legs. She could throw fireballs at him, punch him unconscious, then run away and get help...so what was stopping her with that last option? She had no trouble in beating the tar out of him before this whole ordeal. Was it because she knew his identity? She could rat him out to Yuri and the others! So why wasn't she trying to get away?!

Not realizing she'd been looking at the ground as she walked, the girl slowly lifted her head, Raven glaring darkly at her, as if he'd been reading her mind. She slowly retreated her gaze back to her feet, not wanting to feel as if her soul was being stabbed into again. Screeching when her hair was practically getting yanked out of her skull, Rita grabbed hold of the man's hand as he slowly started lifting her off the ground, the girl kicking wildly.

Tears pricked the back of her eyes as she attempted to loosen Raven's grip on her hair, but failed miserably.

"What are you doing?!" she cried, getting raised higher off the ground. "Stop it! It hurts! Stop it, please! Please let go!!" she shrieked again when she was thrown harshly against a nearby tree, anything her lungs had held fled at the impact. Coughing, Rita lightly gripped her head with one hand, feeling some blood trickle onto her fingers.

A harsh pain flung into her stomach as she tried to stand, causing her barely-there breath to diminish again. She scratched at the leg keeping her pinned to the tree, and like before, failed miserably.

"...W...Why?" the girl somehow managed to mutter, emerald eyes diminished of their former glow as she stared at the smirking man. His icy blue eyes were still piercing and sharp as ever, she couldn't look at him.

"_Why_? You ask me '_why_'? I thought we just went over this, girl?" Rita flinched, his words were inching to being venomously piercing like his eyes. "I am a monster. I will have my way with you whether you like it or not, as I have mentioned before. If you do as I say, there will be few to no beatings. While, on the other hand, if you disobey me, or drop hints to the little group about any of this, beatings will be severe. They may even result in a little..." he slowly started trailing his hands up her leg, inching it closer and closer to where she didn't want to be touched. Ever.

Before she realized it, she slapped him. Hard. The girl panicked when the man smirked, driving his knee farther into the girl's abdomen, causing her to choke and muster up more tears.

"You must learn to control that temper, or bad things will happen to you."

"...Th...ey...alre-ady...h-ave..." Rita somehow managed to choke out, her words strained. She was getting lightheaded again.

Gasping in air when the older man suddenly let her drop to the base of the tree, she could practically hear her lungs cheering for the much-needed oxygen. Dropping to her knees, Rita had to lean against the tree, tears still streaking her face. She stared blankly at the double-agent, who had his back turned to her, his purple jacket and stupid ponytail swaying in the wind.

"Have they?"

"..."

"Trust me, Mordio, you haven't had anything bad happen to you...yet. What's happened to you so far is just....child's play."

Realizing he was serious, the mage brought her knees in front of her, and sobbed. She couldn't stop crying, and she didn't want to move. She just kept shaking and crying, hoping someone up there would help her.

"Rita! Rita, are you all right?!"

"Rita, what happened? Who did this to you?"

"Oh my..."

Looking up, she thought her prayers might have been answered at the sound of Estelle's, Yuri's, and Judy's voices, but that was quickly diminished when she saw Raven standing in the background.

"Raven told us he found you unconscious, but he couldn't wake you up, so he ran to get help. You must have woken up a little after he left, didn't you? But you're lucky he found us!" The princess commented, hurriedly healing the mage's wounds which Raven's 'Love Shot' hadn't been able to.

"Can you tell us what happened, Rita?" Yuri asked, kneeling beside the young girl and princess. Gulping, Rita shook her head and leapt at the vigilante, hugging and sobbing into his shoulder. "Rita?!" the man was obviously surprised, only to pick her up gently a couple seconds later.

"Come on, guys, let's get her to an inn."

She couldn't tell them they were all travelling with a heartless beast. She didn't know what he'd do... But she guessed that was the point:

Monsters were unpredictable.

And...She had to obey one.

Even though she knew he could just turn his back and kill her and everyone else, she couldn't run away... Well, she could, but she wouldn't make it far before she found her face smothered in the dirt, the man pinning her down.

Lightly looking up from Yuri's shoulder, the only thing clear in her blurry vision were those freezing eyes, driving stakes in her soul. If Hell ever froze over, it'd be the colour of that man's eyes...

---

Sneakers: CAN YOU EMBRACE ALL THE UNICORNS AND RAINBOWS IN THIS STORY? THERE'S JUST SO MUCH CONTAINED IN THIS ONE, ISN'T THERE? IT'S SO SPARKLY AND HAPPY AND DESU. And half-assed ending was half-assed lol. Ran out of ideeeaaaasssss.


	7. Key to Happiness

The Magical Bee and Vagabond Wolf

_Key to Happiness_

---

Rita was practically dragging herself into the castle's kitchen. She was so tired. So very, very tired. She hadn't expected the group's reunion after just a year to be so crazy and wild. She wondered what party would happen in the next twenty years. The mage smirked as she sat down, massaging her temples. That would be one hell of a party; people would probably die from the craziness.

"I say, would you like some water?" Rita blinked, staring groggily at the skinny knight with a moustache and giant lips stood before her, saluting. What was this guys name again? He was one of Raven's knights, she knew that much, but she could never remember his name... Well, his real one anyway.

She blinked some more, headache getting worse just looking at him,"I'm fine...uhm..." she paused, racking her brain for something to call him,"...Tweedle A."

The knight was absolutely appalled by the comment, stuttering and stammering, and Rita could only raise a comical eyebrow at the man's words that were spewing out of his mouth. Was "I say" ninety percent of his speech?

"Why aren't you having fun with everyone else, anyway?" the girl questioned, glancing and noticing something on her arm, before disgustingly flicking it off. She didn't know what it was, and didn't want to know.

"Ah, I say, I never thought you'd be curious!" she wasn't, she wasn't at all. She wasn't even sure why she asked that in the first place. "Well, you see, Boccos and I were..." and she zoned out after that. Rita hadn't been expecting a life story, but she didn't feel half-assed to tell the man she didn't care.

"...then, I say, Lieutenant Leblanc was over us like a rabid hound dog. Barking commands left and right!..."

Rita just wanted to slam her head on the table right now and sleep. Instead, she boredly watched the knights antics as he talked about his story; her not paying any attention to his words unless he asked her if something was "unfair", which she would blankly nod. The girl knew why the knights weren't partying as much as everyone else; most of them had volunteered to be hosts. This knight right here was probably talking about something that happened weeks ago.

Resting her head in her hands, she slowly rose up and gave a curt smile,"I'd...love to hear the rest of your story, but I'm going to go to bed now." and then she ran out of the kitchen. She was hoping the kitchen would have been her quiet sanctuary because she'd been informed that barely anybody would be in the kitchen for the party. All the food would be cooked and stocked in the main room where the party would be held.

Staggering down the halls, Rita grimaced as the music and cheering and yelling from the party echoed along the walls, even though she wasn't close to the main event anymore. There'd be advil in her bathroom cabinet, wouldn't there? She hoped there would be; she wasn't up to walking into a room full of blaring music and everybody screaming, her herself having to scream just to let the other person hear what she was saying.

Stopping in her tracks, Rita glanced around, slowly spinning in a circle when she realized she was lost.

"…For fuck's sakes!" she growled, huffing and sliding down the wall, arms crossed. Why did this castle have to look the same in every hallway?! Stupid architect who made this thing.

"Now, now, you should watch yer language, Miss Genius Mage." Rita squeaked and jumped up, readying fireballs to attack at whoever was stalking her. Glancing around, she didn't find anything or anyone.

"Show yourself!"

"Or what? Ya gon' throw those fireballs all around? I don't think Estelle, Ioder, or the resta the knights would like that."

It was the old man. But just where the hell was he? He didn't see him anywhere! Glancing around again, Rita glared at a stack of cardboard boxes practically filling one of the shorter hallways. One of them wasn't stacked, and it was upside down, and the flaps were open.

Slowly inching herself forward, she stared intensely at the little slit where you'd normally put your hands in to carry it around. The mage could see a figure in there, and a short smirk formed on her lips. Instead of walking to it and inspecting it like most would expect, she gave a full sprint and kicked the box straight in the air, quickly bringing her leg back down since she was dressed up in that dress Estelle had fussed over for her to wear. The mage hadn't really wanted to wear it, but she soon found herself forced in it and makeup was getting rubbed over her face thanks to the maids that were obeying Estelle's orders.

Rita stared down victoriously at the stunned Raven crouched, pretty much in the fetal position, blinking as he slowly looked up, the box landing on his head shortly after, before it toppled to the ground. The man frowned, sitting down in a more comfortable position (or as comfortable as he could get in that tuxedo. It looked sort of tight…) and pouted at the young mage.

"You broke the box."

"Why were you hiding under it anyway?" she asked, sitting on her knees and bringing her glare back on,"Planning on peaking up the dresses of the unsuspecting women and maids that pass by?"

Raven gave her a sly smirk, tapping his finger on his chin,"Well, you've given me a good peak up your dre—"

"SHUT UP!" and with that, Raven found himself flying into the rest of the cardboard boxes, Rita blushing possibly the deepest shade of red possible. The girl was barely able to hear the very muffled "it was your fault…" from the man thanks to his position underneath the boxes…and her own heartbeat furiously beating away in her chest, causing her headache to grow more unsteady.

Calming herself down, Rita contemplated on lighting the boxes on fire, before just stomping away, hoping to find her room eventually. She was tired, cranky, and wanted some damn advil.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the girl opened the room to her temporary bedroom and shut the door, breathing a sigh of relief as the party's echoes instantly diminished. Flicking off the high-heels that were killing her feet, Rita walked over to the giant wardrobe and checked for a simple night-blouse or pajamas. She stared in disbelief at the complicated and luxurious dresses that hung prim and proper in the cabinet, and she ended up empty handed without anything simple to wear to bed.

Heading to the bathroom, she groaned when she found a nightgown sitting on the counter, and she closed the door and changed. After searching the cupboard for something to relieve her headache, she swallowed the pill without any water and left to get her bag to grab her toothbrush to brush her teeth.

Screaming, she threw the dress forced upon her earlier at the box that sat right beside the giant bed. The dress ended up overshooting the cardboard and ended up behind it, and Rita had to balance herself by hanging onto the doorframe.

"What the hell, old man?!" she screeched, stomping towards the box and kicking it from the side. She didn't kick it in the air this time; instead, she kicked it hard enough that the man under the box yelped in pain.

"J-just hear me out!" Raven cried, and the girl scoffed.

"What for?! You snuck into my room, and I don't even want to know what you were going to do if I hadn't come out of the bathroom earlier!"

"Just get under the box, Rita, and you'll understand."

Rita's eye twitched,"Why the HELL would I want to do that?!"

"Don't you feel it? The urge—no, the destiny to be here; in the box?"

"No, I don't! Now, I don't know what kind of high you're on right now, but I don't give two shits! Get out of my room this instant!"

"But I thought you were stressed, tired, frustrated?"

"I swear to god, old man, if you don'—"

"The box will bring you inner peace! It will make you feel safe! It's the true key to happiness, Rita! Come, embrace true happiness with me!"

Raven soon found himself magically out of the box, thrown out the window and lit on fire. If it weren't for that patio covered in pillows below him, he surely would have died. And damn, did Rita ever get the muscles on that scrawny body of hers when she was angry!

….Wait.

"IT BURNS!! RITA, HUN, WHY WOULD YA DO THIS TA ME?!" and he proceeded to stop-drop-and-roll, only to spread the fire on more of the pillows causing knights and mages who saw this epidemic to help out.

So much for the giant pillow fight they were planning for later…

Shutting her window pane shut, Rita almost ripped the curtains off as she closed them and stormed to her bed, angrily crawling under the covers. For such thick, luxurious blankets, the mage couldn't help but shiver. Why was it so cold?! Why did it feel so dangerous?! It was a _bed_ for crying out loud! It's not like it would try to eat her or anything!

Sitting up in frustration after minutes of tossing, turning, shivering, and cursing, the mage peeked at the dented cardboard box and slowly slid out of her bed. Rita grabbed one of the blankets on top and wrapped it around herself, finding herself underneath the box.

Another blush crept on her face as she realized just how ridiculous this was; sitting under a box, what the hell was she doing?! Yet…she didn't want to leave, and she slowly found herself drifting off to sleep.

She felt at peace for the first time in a long while.

…

"See? I knew ya'd find happiness under there!" already morning, and Raven earned himself another black eye and around 5 missing teeth in less than fifteen minutes from when he woke up.

---

Sneakers: Uh….yeah. BOXES ARE AWESOME. I just have none I can hide under. :'C


	8. Broken Record

The Magical Bee and Vagabond Wolf  
_Broken Record  
_---

"Who are you?"

"I'm Raven."

"Raven? Isn't that a girl's name? Aren't you a boy?"

"I am. And Raven can be a unisex name."

"What's…unisex?"

"…It's when something can be insinuated with both males and females."

"Ooooh… Uh, do you know who I am?"

"You're Rita."

"Rita?"

"Uh-huh."

"….Who are you?"

"Raven, Hun."

"Raven? That's a nice name."

"Thanks, darlin'." Raven smiled patiently as the girl slowly looked around the room, green eyes glistening with curiosity. How long had he been sitting there that day, repeating himself to the girl as she continued to ask the same question? For a couple of hours, no doubt about that. He knew what the doctor said, that there'd be little to no chance of her ever recovering from this state, and she'd remain forgetting any information about herself or other people in the next couple of minutes or seconds. She would remain a lost child until the day she died, continuing to ask--

"Who are you?"

"I'm Raven."

"Raven… It's nice to meet you! But…I don't remember my name."

"That's okay. I know who you are."

The girl looked ecstatic, "You do?"

"Yep. You're Rita Mordio."

"Rita…Mordio…"

How many times had he repeated his name? How many times had he told her hers, to have her repeat it and act like she was going to remember? How many times would he feel those tears tremble in the back of his eyes? How many times would he contemplate putting a bullet through her head to end both their misery?

"Is this your house?"

"Yep."

"It's nice."

"Thank you."

"…Who are you again?"

"I'm Raven."

"Are you my dad?"

"No, but I'm a friend."

"Then where's my dad?"

"I'm…afraid I don't know, Hun."

"…Is he dead?"

"Honestly, I have no idea."

"Oh…"

How many times had everyone else come over to talk to the girl, only for her to ask them who they were in another couple of minutes, resulting in the princess to cry every time? How many times had the new Commandant's second-in-command go over to apologize that it was her fault the girl was this way, to which he responded that it wasn't, the fact she tripped and caused his arrow to go astray in the midst of battle wasn't her fault. She would end up crying, resulting in the young Commandant to come lead her away, him apologizing as well.

"Mister, why are you crying?"

Raven blinked, absent-mindedly touching his cheek. He felt the tears. Giving a short smile, he lied, "Just…thinking of the…past."

"Was it sad?"

"…"

"I-I'm sorry…"

"No, that's all right."

"O…Okay…"

How many days had he been with the girl in this condition? How many months? Without her, it was taking longer for them to accomplish what she was going to do to get rid of the Adephagos. Witcher was a smart kid, yes, but he was having difficulties with what Rita probably would have figured out in no time. Sometimes, he just wanted to blame the female knight for all of this, but he knew it would do no good. She couldn't help what happens in battle and neither could he.

"Who are you?"

"A friend. Name's Raven."

"Raven? It's nice to meet you."

How many times would he sit there, imagining the girl resting forever?

How many times would he sit there, imagining himself crying as he shot a bullet into her head?

How many times would the girl's question haunt his dreams until he couldn't take it anymore and smothered her with a pillow?

"Who are you?"

"…A man of death."

"Really? You don't seem like one, Mister."

The man grasped for a reply, failing to find an answer and just giving another small smile.

How many times… How many times would he question if the doctor had been wrong? How many times would he feel like running back to that man's office and yell at him, scream at him, beat the hell out of him until he could fix the girl because he was barely able to handle the question anymore? How many more times would he be able to bear--

"Uh… Who are you?"

--until he went insane?

* * *

Sneakers: I have no comment lol. T'was bored. Oh, and school is mean.


End file.
